Arsutoria Studio
Arsutoria Studio

CEC co-signed Joint European Industry Manifesto for Relaunching European Competitiveness

CEC has joined forces with 85 others European and national industry associations to publish the European Industry Manifesto “Relaunching European Competitiveness”. The Manifesto calls against the risk of de-industrialisation on our continent by relaunching Europe’s competitiveness.

The EU enters a new policy cycle at a challenging time, with technology and geopolitics acting as global disruptors, adding pressure to an already difficult economic situation. Now is the time to start building a strategic plan that unlocks the Single Market’s full potential and builds a regulatory environment for Europe industry to remain globally competitive – the intention of the Manifesto is precisely to urge this intervention.

Innovation, sustainability and automation are the central topicsat the DESMA House Fair 2024

On 24 and 25 September 2024, the traditional DESMA House Fair will open its doors to customers, friends and visitors from all over the world to inform them about the latest technologies in footwear production. In line with this year’s motto, “PIONEERING. TOGETHER.“, you will find a comprehensive mix of product presentations, technical lectures and live demonstrations of tried-and-trusted DESMA technologies and services as well as the latest innovations. They are also expecting over 50 international co-exhibitors and more than 800 visitors.

TFL is using AI to manage Safety Data Sheets

The laws regarding Safety Data Sheets (SDS) are getting more and more complex and the content of the Safety Data Sheets needs to be adapted to the country the chemical formulation is sold to. A decade ago, only Europe, the US and Japan had regulations on chemicals safety, but today more than 50 countries have laws on the classification and labelling of chemicals, or are currently in the process of implementing them.
“In this situation of exponentially growing complexity –explain further from TFL leather chemicals group -, the use of artificial intelligence is a proper tool to safeguard the completeness and correctness of the documents, and as a consequence TFL has transferred SDS management to a new, digitalized tool”.
How? “The identity of all raw materials and blending components is fed into a central database, including impurity levels down to the milligram range. Should a reaction occur during manufacturing, a team of experienced chemists defines the results in detail and files it in the same database. The input-side is then completed with information on the physical, chemical and toxicological properties of the listed substances, which are uploaded from a globally leading content provider on chemicals safety”.
As a company with European roots, most of the substances used by TFL are registered under European REACH, and those data have been verified by the European Chemicals Agency. This is the point where artificial intelligence takes over. “Following a complex set of expert rules – TFL’s experts explain – the computer evaluates the data for every commercial product and generates a safety data sheet according to national regulations and in a language that is accepted for business purpose in the respective country. The result is filed in the SDS format requested by the Globally Harmonized System (GHS) with its sixteen chapters, and double-checked by the Product Safety team at TFL. In this way, currently more than fifty SDS are generated per commercial product and exported to the TFL SDS database, to which every employee has access. Customers access can be granted after registration as an additional service to the SDS that are accompanying shipments”.
TFL is confident that in this way we can support our customers globally, putting them in the best position to use TFL chemical formulations for the manufacture of leather in an efficient way that is safe for workers, consumers and the environment. Today and in the future.

GSC GROUP presents the Trend Book A-I 25/26

There are 4 fashion scenarios that GSC Group presents in its Trend Book for Autumn-Winter 25/26. Here is a summary of the themes and colour palettes.

VOYAGER
An emotional journey through wild, unspoilt landscapes. The dark green of the foliage, the brick red of the trunks and the brown bark evokes solidity and connection to the earth.

DELICATE

The colours dip into a wintery delicacy. Pastel shades of peach, beige and crystal green blend to create a refined and ethereal atmosphere.

TEMPERANCE

The colours exude timeless elegance. Shades of grey dominate, imparting a sense of serenity and composure, while fuller beige tones blend with shades of brown and mauve.

GORGEOUS

The colours are dense and seductive, exuding glamour and mystery. Shades of red fading towards violet catch the eye, evoking passion and emotional depth.

If you would like to know more about GSC GROUP’s leather dyes and finishing pigments, please write to [email protected]

Leather Chemists: Cattazzo joins the Executive Committee of IULTCS

The Italian Association of Leather Chemists-AICC announces the strengthening of the presence of AICC members in the Executive Committee of IULTCS (International Union of Leather Technologists and Chemists Societies). In addition to the IULTCS Secretary, Dr. Luis Zugno, the IUP/IUF Chairman, Dr. Gustavo Defeo, and the two Delegates, Dr. Adriano Peruzzi and Dr. Giancarlo Lovato, Dr. Alberto Cattazzo has also been appointed as Italian Delegate.

Alberto Cattazzo


Dr. Cattazzo, who holds a degree in Chemistry and a PhD in Molecular Sciences from the University of Padua, has extensive experience in Research and Development. With a professional background ranging from the tanning industry to the chemicals sector, Dr. Cattazzo has been involved in the re-use and valorisation of waste from the tanning industry for a number of years.

STAHL publishes ESG Report 2023

Stahl, a leading provider of speciality coatings and treatments for flexible substrates, has published its 2023 Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Report. The report outlines Stahl’s recent progress on its ESG Roadmap to 2030 and the steps the company is taking to live its purpose of Touching lives, for a better world. 
Maarten Heijbroek, CEO of Stahl: “Stahl’s 2023 ESG Report looks back on an important year for Stahl and its people. We delivered on our interim ESG Roadmap milestones and defined our new interim goals for 2026, that support our ambition to be an ESG leader in our space. In April 2023, we launched our new purpose: Touching lives, for a better world. I believe this sent a clear message about the kind of company we aspire to be and the impact we want to have on society. I look forward to collaborating with our value chain partners to make even more impact in 2024.”

Exceeding interim environmental targets

Stahl’s ESG Roadmap to 2030 includes interim targets for 2023, making this a year in which Stahl reached several important milestones. For example, the company reduced its scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 22% versus 2022. Furthermore, in 2023 the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) validated Stahl’s scope 1, 2 and 3 targets, making it one of the first coatings companies on the SBTi-approved list.
To reduce its GHG emissions, Stahl is actively increasing its use of clean energy. At the end of 2023, renewable energy generation, such as solar panels, had been installed at four Stahl sites, compared to its target of three.
Measuring – and reducing – the impact of products is an important step in the company’s scope 3 emissions. As such, 353 Stahl products now have either life cycle assessment (LCA) or product carbon footprint (PCF) data, far exceeding the 2023 target of 50.
Read Stahl’s 2023 ESG Report in full HERE

Assomac begins again with “Around the world” and Simac-Tanning Tech Gold Edition 

With 2024, the promotional initiatives of the National Association of Italian Manufacturers of Footwear, Leather Goods and Tanning Technology will start again, bringing the best of Italian technology for the leather industry to be the protagonist of the most important events in the world with ‘Assomac around the world’. After the stop at APLF – the international trade fair for the leather, materials and accessories industry that took place in Hong Kong from 19 to 21 March and that represents the first global fair in China for the leather sector, it was the turn of Florence with Assomac’s participation in eP-Summit, the second edition of the Pitti Immagine appointment dedicated to the relationship between fashion and the digital world, which took place on 9 and 10 April at the Stazione Leopolda.

But the highlight of the year 2024 is undoubtedly Simac Tanning Tech, the exhibition organised by Assomac and world leader in technology and machinery for the footwear, tanning and leather goods industry, which celebrates 50 years this year. The event, scheduled from 17 to 19 September 2024, will entirely occupy pavilions 14 and 18 of Fiera Milano Rho, with the presence of more than 300 exhibitors from all over the world, and will be an opportunity to celebrate the past and look to the future of a sector in continuous evolution. ‘The Gold Edition’ will, in fact, feature a series of events and exhibitions that will delve into the latest trends in the leather industry, technological innovations and environmental challenges. Among the main events will be an exhibition on leather technology that will trace the history of the sector, but there will also be networking initiatives and workshops on key topics such as sustainability, innovation and technology. Numerous foreign visitors and delegations of international buyers supported by ICE-Agenzia will be present at the Fair. “We are proud to celebrate 50 years of Simac Tanning Tech,” said Maria Vittoria Brustia, President of Assomac and Simac Tanning Tech. “This trade fair is a reference point for the footwear, leather goods and tanning technology sector and we are convinced that this special edition will be a unique opportunity for discussion and sharing.”

Vivolo: beyond the product

Founded in 1977 thanks to the intuition of Luciano Vivolo – who saw in leather industry waste an opportunity for innovation and creativity for the fashion industry – Vivolo is today an established reality also at an international level, which can count on 100 collaborators and which contributes to supplying, to the most important fashion houses all over the world, more than 8 million articles per year, manufactured one by one in compliance with high quality standards.

Vivolo’s creative and vital impulse, capable of transforming an industrial waste into a revolutionary added value, today, as then, continues to explore and search for new solutions and ever-challenging horizons. From small leather goods to footwear, from bags to clothing, the Bologna-based company follows its evolutionary vocation, with the precision, quality and commitment that have made it indispensable to the world of fashion. Season after season, Vivolo’s proposal anticipates the trends of the moment, developing creative, technical, material and chromatic proposals that are always innovative.

The recent SS25 collection is a voyage across land, sea and air, an exploration that encapsulates in nine books the inspirations that Vivolo puts at the service of its partners: from the iconic hot-printed or digitally printed leather labels for denim and classic trousers, to the lace endings, new this season, and 3D printing; from the sparkling holiday and sea themes, to the more irreverent comics and logomania; from the explosions of colour in silicone to the green research on natural and recycled materials.

At the centre of its business, Vivolo always places environmental ethics, in a vision that embraces the product in all its dimensions, integrating processes and working and human relations. In addition, the vertically integrated supply chain makes it possible to study and adopt efficient, transparent processes and circular economy solutions to valorise processing waste.


Tre Zeta Group acquires Tacchificio Pienne

This is the fifth acquisition for Tre Zeta Group since the entry of Koinos Capital in 2021, after Stil Stampi, Suolificio Magonio, Solettificio Do.Gi and Walking World. For over 50 years a reference point in the production of luxury shoe soles, Tre Zeta Group has in fact acquired 100% of Tacchificio Pienne, thus further strengthening its control over the value chain of the formal shoe structure and its offer of products, materials and services to customers. Founded in 1966 in Montevarchi (Arezzo), by Duilio and Sira Palazzini, Pienne specialises in the production of heels and wooden clogs for women’s footwear for the world’s leading luxury brands. Starting in 1985, the second generation has started a structured growth path focused more and more on the excellence of a completely Made in Italy product.

“With this operation, we complete our presidium of the formal footwear structure, an important milestone that we have achieved by integrating innovative and sustainable processes, both in terms of materials and components and products,” commented Fabrizio Mecheri, CEO of Tre Zeta Group. The ultimate goal of our development strategy is the creation of a Group capable of representing a single ‘one-stop-shop’ interlocutor for luxury brands, satisfying all needs in the realisation of the creativity of their stylists, thanks to the know-how of the best excellences in the sector, which allow us to offer increasingly high standards of service and improve performance in terms of product, timing and sustainability.

ACM: between accessories and digital printing, the novelties for SS25

The historic company from Grumello in Monte, which for over forty years has been designing, planning and producing creations that interpret the style of the world’s leading fashion houses, presented its new collections at the most important trade fairs, with a varied and unique choice of buttons, leather goods and accessories.

The task of surprising is entrusted, as per tradition, to the Vision collection, which for S/S-25 declines and models three different moods. TAKE CARE delves into nature, exploring its aesthetic and material possibilities. EMBRACE starts from individuality to include the community, amidst woven effects, juxtaposed colours, python textures and nautical ornaments. Geometry discovers new forms with IMAGINE: the design explores polygonal solutions and mesh effects, perforations and engravings, with gloss effects and coloured chromes.

Milan also saw the debut of the digital printing division of Next, the production part of the ACM Group. Starting from the selection of certified low environmental impact yarns and weavings (GOTS, GRS, FSC), Next has developed a dedicated and tailor-made printing system to be able to reproduce extremely realistic and repeatable effects on garments, with a faithful visual impact, drastically reducing the consumption of energy, water and chemicals, from fabric birth to garment manufacture.